Santiago Dreaming

The Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela is a centuries old trek across northern Spain done by following "The Camino de Santiago", the road to Santiago. Before February of 2001 I had not heard of "The Camino" nor of the Pilgrimage. By the end of October of that year I was in Santiago after completing the walk myself. I thought that when I reached Santiago my journey was over but I see now that my journey started way before I got to Spain and still has not ended.

Monday, March 02, 2015

Sewing
project 17- Lots of small bags so I could practice sewing zippers. Six
of them are for the two little girls my sister takes care of and one is
for the sewing feet and accessories that came with my new sewing
machine.

Friday, February 27, 2015

For Christmas my sister gave me something I did not know I wanted until I saw them, vintage button sample cards. These are from the 1930s and 1940s. Some are metal (lower left), some are ivory (top) and some are that newfangled product plastic (lower right frame and lower right card in frame at lower left.). They now hang over my sewing machine.

Monday, February 23, 2015

Four fleece polo wraps. Polo wraps are use on horses legs. Each one is 9 feet long and 5 inches wide with a Velcro closure. Making them gave me lots of practice cutting large pieces of fabric in clean straight lines. Tip: use a rotary cutter and not scissors. I will be making many more so I've decided that I need a template before I do any more cutting. Something stronger that paper, maybe cardboard or a light plastic of some sort.

Friday, February 20, 2015

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

I saw this sweater at Marshalls and disliked how the zippers looked
and how heavy they made the sweater weigh but then I realized I could
fix those problems by removing the zippers and resewing the seams.

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Sometimes you decide to do too much and end up crashing hard at the end of the day. That was me yesterday. It all started a couple of weeks ago when I took a friend who was looking to buy a sewing machine to J&M Vacuum & Sewing where I had bought my sewing machine. That got me thinking about a new machine for myself since I felt I had outgrown mine and I admired the one she had picked out for herself.

Last Friday I loaded my sewing machine into the backseat of my car and took it to J&M for their Friday Unfinished Projects class. I wanted to learn how to correctly attach bias tape. Unfortunately the woman who oversaw the class was gone that day so I ended up talking to the store owner about sewing machines. He recommend the machine my friend bought and also another one that was a bit higher priced but had more features and was on sale. I couldn't decide which machine I wanted so I took a brochure home and spent the weekend studying the pros and cons of each one.

By Tuesday of this week I had made my decision and I returned to the store yesterday. I was going to buy the one my friend had bought but I changed my mind once I was told that two of the features (automatic threader and automatic lock-stitch) I thought were on the machine I wanted were actually on the other machine. The main reason I did not want that other machine was because I did not like how lightweight it was, which was one of the selling points for the machine but not something I was interested in. So, it was either buying the machine I had already decided on or moving up to an even more expensive machine. I did not really need those two extra features to sew well but they would make two sewing steps that are tedious a bit easier to do.

After trying out both machines I left the store and had some lunch and thought about it. I asked myself how much I wanted those extra features and whether or not the more expensive machine was actually the best one to buy. I decided I did want the extras and that the higher priced machine was worth it because (a) it also was on sale, (b) I would still get the full amount I paid for my original machine as trade in, (c) if I bought the other machine I would only outgrow it quickly, and (d) I knew I would eventually end up with the higher priced machine with all the features I really wanted anyway, so why not make the leap now?

The two hours I spent at the sewing shop wasn't all that time consuming but the fact that I had bundled my trip to the sewing store with a trip to Costco, a trip to Natural Grocers , a trip to Goodwill, a trip to ARC, and a trip to Jo-ann's made it a long day.

Now I have a few more busy days ahead as I learn how to use this new machine. I also think I am beginning to feel the same way about sewing as British actor India de Beaufort. She supposedly said, "I have a sewing machine that I adore and I spend a lot of time sitting in front of it when I'm not working. And any excuse to paint or draw or do something artistic with my hands really gets me going. Definitely aspiring."